_Of Love and Queens_
For a few minutes Wilson kept in the background. He saw that the young
man was in command and apparently knew what he was about, for one
order followed another, succeeded by a quick movement of silent
figures about the decks, a jingle of bells below, and soon the
metallic clank of the steam-driven windlass. Shortly after this he
felt the pulse beat of the engines below, and then saw the ship, as
gently as a maid picking her way across a muddy street, move slowly
ahead into the dark.
"Now," said Danbury to Stubbs, "hold your breath. If we can only slide
by the lynx-eyed quarantine officers, we'll have a straight road ahead
of us for a while."
"Maybe we'll do it; maybe we won't."
"You damned pessimist," laughed Danbury. "Once we're out of this
harbor I'll give you a feed that will make an optimist of you."
The black smoke, sprinkled with golden red sparks from the forced
draft, belched from the funnel tops. The ship slid by the green and
red lights of other craft with never a light of her own. The three
men stood there until the last beacon was passed and the boat was
pointed for the open.
"Done!" exclaimed Danbury. "Now we'll have our lights and sail like
men. Hanged if I like that trick of muffled lights; but it would be
too long a delay to be held up here until morning."
He spoke a moment to his mate, and then turned to Stubbs.
"Now," he said, "come on and I'll make you glad you're living."
"Just a moment, Cap'n--my mate Wilson."
Danbury turned sharply. In the light which now flooded up from below,
he saw Wilson's features quite clearly, but for a moment he could not
believe his eyes.
"What the devil----" he began, then broke in abruptly, "Are you the
same one--the fellow in the Oriental robe and bandaged head?"
"The same," answered Wilson.
"The one I took from the crowd and brought home?"
"And clothed and loaned ten dollars, for which he is more thankful
than ever."
"But--did you get the girl?"
"Not yet," answered Wilson. "I'm still after her."
"Well,--but say, come on down."
Danbury led the way into a small cabin so brilliant with the
reflection of the electric lights against the spotless white woodwork
that it was almost blinding. But it was a welcome change from the
dark and the cool night air and the discomfort of the last few hours.
To Wilson it was almost like a feat of magic to have been shifted in
an hour from the barren sands of the tiny island to such luxury as
this. It took but the first glance to perceive that this young captain
had not been limited in resources in the furnishing of his ship.
Within the small compass of a stateroom he had compressed comfort and
luxury. Yet there was no ostentation or vulgarity displayed. The owner
had been guided by the one desire for decent ease and a certain regard
for the eye. The left side of the room was occupied by the two bunks
made up with the immaculate neatness characterizing all things aboard
a good ship. The center of the room, was now filled with a folding
table set with an array of silver, fine linen, and exquisite glass
which would have done credit to the best board in New York. Beneath
the group of electric lights it fairly sparkled and glistened as
though it were ablaze. The wall to the right was adorned with a steel
engraving of a thoroughbred bull pup.
"Now," said Danbury, throwing himself into a chair, "I'd like to know
how in thunder Stubbs got you."
"He didn't--I got Stubbs."
"But where----"
"On the pier," broke in Stubbs, "where I had gone with the note to
your pal--an' may I drop dead if he don't give me the creeps. There I
finds this gent--an' I takes 'em where I finds 'em."
"You got the note to Valverde all right?"
"I got the note to your long-legged friend, but--it's his eyes, man!
It's his eyes! They ain't human! I seen a man like him once what went
mad from the heat an'--" he lowered his voice, "they found him at his
mate's throat a-sucking of his blood!"
"Don't!" exploded Danbury. "No more of your ghastly yarns! Val is
going to be useful to me or--I'm darned if I could stand him. I don't
like him after dark."
"They shines in the dark like a cat's--them eyes does."
"Drop it, Stubbs! Drop it! I want to forget him for a while. That
isn't telling me how you chanced----"
"That's just it," interrupted Wilson. "It was chance. I was looking
for an opportunity to get to Carlina, and by inspiration was led to
ask Stubbs. He made the proposition that I come with him, and I came.
I had no more idea of seeing you than my great-grandfather. I was
going back to thank you, but one thing has followed another so swiftly
that I hadn't the time."
"I know, I know. But if you really want to thank me, you must tell me
all about it some day. If things hadn't been coming so fast my own way
I should have lain awake nights guessing about you. If I could have
picked out one man I wanted on this trip with me I'd have taken a
chance on you. The way you stood off that crowd made a hit with me. I
don't know what sort of a deal you've made with Stubbs, but I'll make
one of my own with you after dinner. Now about the others. No
shanghaiing, was there, Stubbs? Every man knows where he's going and
what he's hired for?"
"They will afore they're through."
Danbury's face darkened.
"I'm afraid you've been overzealous. I won't have a man on board
against his will, if I have to sail back to port with him. But once
he's decided for himself,--I'll be damned if he turns yellow safely."
"Ye've gotter remember," said Stubbs, "that they're a pack er liars,
every mother's son of 'em. Maybe they'll say they was shanghaied;
maybe they won't. But I've got fifty papers to show they're liars
'cause they've put their names to th' bottom of every paper."
"And they were sober when they did it?"
"I ain't been lookin' arter their morals or their personal habits,"
replied Stubbs, with some disgust. "As fer their turnin' yeller--mos'
men are yeller until they are afraid not ter be."
"I don't believe it. I don't believe it,--not Americans. And that's
one thing I insisted upon,--they are all Americans?"
"Every mother's son of 'em swore they was. Not bein' present at their
birth----"
"Well, we'll look 'em over to-morrow and I'll have a talk with them.
I'm going to put it up to them squarely--good pay for good fighters.
By the Lord, Stubbs, I can't realize yet that we're actually on the
way. Think of it,--in less than a month we'll be at it!"
The dinner would have done credit to the Waldorf.
It was towards its end that Togo, the Japanese steward, came in with a
silver-topped bottle in a pail of ice. He filled the three glasses
with the flourish of a man who has put a period to the end of a
successful composition. Danbury arose. "Gentlemen," he said, raising
his glass, "I have a toast to propose: to Her health and Her throne."
The two men rose, Wilson mystified, and silently drained their
glasses. Then there was the tinkle of shivered glass as Danbury, after
the manner of the English in drinking to their Queen, hurled the
fragile crystal to the floor. Shortly after this Stubbs left the two
men to go below and look after his charges. Danbury brought out a
bottle of Scotch and a siphon of soda and, lighting his brierwood
pipe, settled back comfortably on the bunk with his head bolstered up
with pillows.
"Now," he said, "I'd like to know just as much of your story as you
want to tell--just as much as you feel like telling, and not
another word. Maybe you're equally curious about me; if so, I'll tell
you something of that afterwards. There's pipes, cigars, and
cigarettes--take your choice."
Wilson felt that he was under certain obligations to tell something of
himself, but in addition to this he really felt a desire to confide in
someone. It would be a relief. The fact remained, however, that as
yet he really knew nothing of Danbury and so must move cautiously. He
told him of the incident in his life which led to his leaving school,
of his failure to find work in Boston, of his adventure in helping the
girl to escape, which led to the house. Here he confined himself to
the arrival of the owner, of his wound, and of the attack made upon
him in the house. He told of his search through the dark house, of the
closed cellar door, and of the blow in the head.
"Someone bundled me into a carriage, and I came to on the way to the
hospital. It was the next day, after I awoke in my cot and persuaded
them to let me out, that I had the good luck to run into you. My
clothes had been left in the house and all I had was the lounging robe
which I had put on early in the evening."
"But you had your nerve to dare venture out in that rig!"
"I had to get back to the house. The girl didn't know where I had
gone, and, for all I knew, was at the mercy of the same madman who
struck me."
"That's right--you had to do it. But honestly, I would rather have met
twenty more maniacs in the dark than go out upon the street in that
Jap juggler costume of yours. What happened after you left me?"
Wilson told of the empty house, of finding the note, of locating the
other house, and finally of the letter and his race for the wharf.
"And then I ran into Stubbs and landed here," he concluded.
"What did Stubbs tell you of this expedition?"
"Nothing--except that we are running to Carlina."
"Yes," sighed Danbury, dreamily, "to Carlina. Well, things certainly
_have_ been coming fast for you these last few days. And I'll tell you
right now that when we reach Carlina if you need me or any of this
crew to help you get the girl, you can count on us. We've got a pretty
good job of our own cut out, but perhaps the two will work together."
He relighted his pipe, adjusted thyhe pillows more comfortably, and
with hands clasped behind his head began his own story.
"To go back a little," he said, "father made a pot of money in
coffee--owned two or three big plantations down around Rio; but he had
no sooner got a comfortable pile together than he died. That's way
back just about as far as I can remember. As a kid I wasn't very
strong, and so cut out school mostly--got together a few scraps of
learning under a tutor, but never went to college. Instead of that,
the mater let me knock around. She's the best ever that way, is the
mater--tends to her Bridge, gives me an open account, and, so long as
she hears once a month, is happy.
"Last year I took a little trip down to Dad's plantations, and from
there rounded the Horn on a sailing vessel and landed way up the west
coast in Carlina. It was just chance that led me to get off there and
push in to Bogova. I'd heard of gold mines in there and thought I'd
have a look at them. But before I came to the gold mines I found
something else."
He paused a moment. Then, without a word, rose slowly and, fumbling
about a moment in a cedar chest near his bunk, drew out a photograph.
"That's she," he said laconically.
Wilson saw the features of a girl of twenty, a good profile of rather
a Southern cast, and a certain poise of the head which marked her as
one with generations of equally good features back of her.
If not decidedly beautiful, she was most attractive, giving an
impression of an independent nature enlivened with humor. It seemed to
Wilson that she might furnish a very good balance to Danbury.
"You lose the best part of her," said Danbury, reseating himself on
the bunk. "You can't see the eyes and----"
Danbury roused himself and sat on the edge of the bunk leaning far
forward, elbows on knees, gazing steadily at Wilson.
"Say, those eyes do keep a fellow up, don't they? I had only to see
them once to know that I'd fight for them as long as I lived. Queer
what a girl's eyes--_the_ girl's eyes--will do. I'll never forget that
first time. She was sitting in one of those palm-filled cafes where
the sun sprinkles in across the floor. She was dressed in black, not a
funeral black, but one of those fluffy things that make crepe look
like royal purple. She had a rose, a long-stemmed rose, in her
bodice, and one of those Spanish lace things over her hair. I can see
her now,--almost reach out and touch her. I went in and took a table
not far away and ordered a drink. Then I watched her out of the corner
of my eye. She was with an older woman, and, say--she didn't see a man
in that whole room. As far as they were concerned they might have been
so many flies buzzing round among the palms. Then a couple of
government officers lounged in and caught sight of her. They all know
her down there 'cause she is of the blood royal. Her grandmother's
sister was the last queen and was murdered in cold blood. Yes, sir,
and there weren't men enough there to get up and shoot the bunch who
did it. Pretty soon these fellows began to get fresh. She didn't mind
them, but after standing it as long as she decently could, she rose
and prepared to go out.
"Go out, with an American in the place? Not much! There was a row, and
at the end of it they carried the two officers off on a stretcher.
Then they pinched me and it cost me $500 to get out.
"But it gave me the chance to meet her later on and learn all about
how she had been cheated out of her throne. You see the trouble was
that republics had been started all around Carlina,--they grow down
there like mushrooms,--so that soon some of these chumps thought they
must go and do the same thing, although everything was going finely
and they were twice as prosperous under their queen as the other
fellows were under their grafting presidents. Then one of the
wild-eyed ones stabbed Queen Marguerite, her grandaunt, you know, and
the game was on. Isn't it enough to make your blood boil? As a matter
of fact, the whole blamed shooting-match wouldn't make a state the
size of Rhode Island, so it isn't worth much trouble except for the
honor of the thing. There is a bunch of men down there who have kept
the old traditions alive by going out into the streets and shooting up
the city hall every now and then, but they've mostly got shot
themselves for their pains,--which hasn't done the princess any good.
I studied the situation, and the more I thought of her getting done in
this way, the madder I got. So I made up my mind she should have her
old throne back. She said she didn't want it, but that was only
because she didn't want me to get mixed up in it. At first it did look
like a kind of dubious enterprise, but I prowled around and then I
discovered a trump card. Up in the hills there is a bunch of wild
Indians who have always balked at a republic, mostly because the
republic tried to clean them out just to keep the army in practice.
"But the Chief, the Grand Mogul and priest of them all, is this same
man Stubbs doesn't like--the same who, for some devilish reason of his
own chose this particular time to sail for South America. But he isn't
a bad lot, this Valverde, though he _is_ a queer one. He speaks
English like a native and has ways that at times make me think he is
half American. But he isn't--he is a heathen clear to his backbone,
with a heathen heart and a heathen temper. When he takes a dislike to
a man he's going to make it hot for him some day or other. It seems
that he is particularly sore against the government now because of a
certain expedition sent up there a little over a year ago, and because
of the loss of a heathen idol which----"
"What?" broke in Wilson, half rising from his chair. "Is this----"
"The priest, they all call him. Mention the priest down there and they
knew whom you mean."
"Go on," said Wilson, breathing a bit more rapidly.
"Do you know him? Maybe you caught a glimpse of him that day you were
at the house. He was there."
"No, I don't know him," answered Wilson, "but--but I have heard of
him. It seems that he is everywhere."
"He is a queer one. He can get from one place to another more quickly
and with less noise than anyone I ever met. He's a bit uncanny that
way as well as other ways. However, as I said, he's been square with
me and it didn't take us long to get together on a proposition for
combining our interests; I to furnish guns, ammunition, and as many
men as possible, he to fix up a deal with the old party, do the
scheming, and furnish a few hundred Indians. I've had the boat all
ready for a long while, and Stubbs, one of Dad's old skippers, out for
men. Yesterday he jumped at me from Carlina, where I thought he was,
10,000 miles away by sea, and gave the word. Now he is off again on
the Columba and is to meet me in Choco Bay."
Danbury relighted his pipe and added between puffs over the match:
"Now you know the whole story and where we're going. Are you with
us?"
"Yes," answered Wilson, "I am with you."
But his head was whirling. Who was this man who struck at him in the
dark, and with whom he was now joined in an expedition against
Carlina? One thing was sure; that if the priest was on the boat with
Sorez it boded ill for the latter. It was possible the girl might
never reach Carlina.
"Now for terms. I'll give you twenty a week and your keep to fight
this out with me. Is it a bargain?"
"Yes," answered Wilson.
"Shake on it."
Wilson shook. Danbury rang for the steward.
"Togo--a bottle. We must drink to her health."